


Hope

by theotheghostkid



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara is briefly mentioned idk if I should tag them??, Connor Murphy LIVES, Except Chara and Asriel, Ft All The Undertale Characters, I started pondering 'what if Evan fell down' while listening to the ut soundtrack, Like SAVE/RELOAD functions of Ut, Magic, Musical References, Nobody is Dead, The Fic That Only Makes Sense at 3 AM, Video Game Mechanics, Why Did I Write This?, also, anyway, here's this brain baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2018-12-26 19:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12065277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theotheghostkid/pseuds/theotheghostkid
Summary: After Connor stole his letter, Evan Hansen was pretty sure that he was going to tell the whole school about how messed up he was. And about his crush. And about how he had to write letters to himself for therapy. Not wanting to deal with it, he flees into the woods, wanting to disappear. And he did, as far as they knew.But he didn't die. He fell down a big hole in a mountain, and suddenly is trapped in a strange, underground world of Monsters who have been imprisoned for thousands of years. Down here, it'skill or be killed, but Evan is determined to, for once, make it out alive.((Also: Connor Murphy is the last person to have seen Evan alive, and it brings drama he never had before to his life. Along with that, his strange blackouts are becoming more common and more concerning.))





	1. once upon a time;

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not sorry for this crossover  
> this is the only thing i've been able to churn out these past few days and for _that_ i am sorry
> 
> hmu on tumblr [@theotheghostkid](https://theotheghostkid.tumblr.com) if ya wanna chat or something

_No no no no no no no--_

His thoughts were running more than just a mile a minute. Maybe two, or three. He needed to reach out, he needed to stop it, he needed to--

Connor Murphy was gone. Out the door, his long hair swooshing behind him with his long strides away from the computer lab. He was gone. With Evan's letter. The one he had to write for therapy. The one that he wasn't going to turn in, probably rip up before his session later the week because he put too much in it. He'd talked about his crush on Zoe, he talked about the incident with Connor, he talked about some stuff he's not ready to share and it's gone it's gone it's gone.

Realizations hit Evan all at once. Connor was probably going to, like, share it with the whole school. Or share it with Alana who would share it with the whole school. And Zoe. Zoe would find out about his pitiful excuse of a crush on her, and would probably laugh. They would all probably laugh and mock him. And judge him. And he already had no friends, and there was no hope for him, and he just had to go.

Before he even realizes what he's doing, Evan's running out of the school doors. He's never purposely ditched school before like this. Maybe once, but that was because his anxiety was so bad after a bad presentation that he had to walk home and explain to his mom that he cried in front of his class a lot and that his teacher yelled at him for that. That was ninth grade, and he only skipped then. But his mind is running on its own, but also like a storm at sea that's trying to drown him in thoughts that really make him wish he didn't survive falling from the tree. Evan keeps walking in some general distance, he doesn't care where or what. He'll chicken out soon and walk home, or he'll keep going and disappear.

That would be nice. To just...disappear. Would anyone even notice? Nobody noticed, nobody heard, when he fell from the tree. Nobody heard his cries. Even his own mom didn't pick up the phone after he tried to reach out to the one person who still hopefully cared about him. She was busy, at work, probably, but it still hurt. Evan saw her after the cast was put on and after she finally picked up four hours later. Jared didn't notice. All Evan was to him was car insurance and a way to get his mom off of his back. All he was...wasn't really anything. Nobody would notice.

 _Nobody will notice, nobody will notice..._ He keeps on walking. Evan's glad that the time he spent as a volunteer forest ranger made him a bit more... athletic. Stronger, or at least, better at being able to walk a long distance without dying of lack of energy five minutes in. Evan glances at the time. Fifteen minutes have already passed.

Nobody noticed, probably. Nobody will notice. 

Evan knows what mountain he's coming close to. His town was built close to it. Ebott. It's a cool mountain, but it's got a lot of scary stories around it. People don't go near it because they're afraid of the monsters that might hide in the woods. Monsters that will rip into your flesh and tear out your heart. People who tend to go to Ebott... They never return. Or, at least, most of them never do. 

He'd like that, actually. To never return. That would be nice, right? 

It might be his emotions taking over his common sense, but the moment he sees the sign-  _MOUNT EBOTT_ \- the moment he sees the old, unused trail that travels through the woods, he stops to catch his breath. 

Evan glances at his phone. No new messages, and a time that barely reads 2:00. He walked a  _while_ to end up here, that's for sure. He puts his phone back in his pocket, and realizes then that he still has his backpack on his back. There's nothing important in there. Unused notebooks, pencils that were just sharpened, his class schedule. He wanted to disappear. Would he need this? Again, his emotions take the best of him as he steps behind the trail sign, empties his backpack, and walks away. There was not a lot of logic going through his brain, because all that he had in his mind was  _disappear, disappear, nobody will notice, nobody will hear, not even a sound_.

He climbed the mountain, and just as he wanted to, he disappeared. Falling, just like he did in the forest only a week before. 

* * *

 

((There's a brief moment after Connor confronted Evan in the computer lab where Connor Murphy feels guilty for yelling. Looking over the letter, it seems like more like an elementary school crush on his sister than purposely trying to attack Connor. Damn his paranoia, he was trying to apologize but he's too fucked up to do even that, properly.

But Connor Murphy is already high again in his car. He doesn't care about it right now. He'll try to do a shitty apology again tomorrow, maybe try and return the letter.))

* * *

 

 _There_ it is. The logic. The sanity, that Evan Hansen had forgotten when he'd decided he wanted to disappear. And it came while he was falling, of course. He reached out for anything, but the hole was dark, deep, scary, and oddly...smooth, to the dirt. Nothing to grab onto for dear life. Maybe he could've just found Connor after it and explained it. Maybe he could've just waited it out to see what would happen tomorrow.

But nope, he decided he would be better off  _dead_ than--

He hits the ground. His eyes are clenched shut, and he knows he probably has another broken limb, or maybe ribs protruding from his chest and the universe is keeping him alive just a little bit longer to torment him. But there's no pain. Evan risks a glance and opens them.

He's lying in a bed of flowers. They're golden flowers, some like he's never seen before. They resemble dandelions, possibly, but not quite. They...cushioned his fall? Evan glances up, where the sun is still shining down from the top of the hole. It's a long way up.

How the hell did he survive? Evan pulls out his phone, still in his pocket. It's still in one piece, magically. He's got no service...Does he? He tries to send a text out. To Jared, of course.

It doesn't send. But there's a new one, one he definitely didn't have before the fall. It's a random meme he found, that was referencing Evan falling of of a tree-- Evan pockets his phone quickly, and glances around. There's a corridor, to his left. Maybe there was some kind of weird cult that lived down in this hole that he'd end up sacrificed to some fake god to? Without anywhere better to go (Evan may be good at climbing trees, but the walls in this  _sinkhole_ are much too smooth to grasp at), he follows the corridor into a separate room. It's lit by torches- torches?- and there's a singular golden flower in the room.

"Howdy!" says the flower.

Evan screams. 

"Whoa, you okay there, buddy?"

"No, no. I'm- I'm imagining this. I hit my head falling down. There's a flower talking to me, I hit m-my head on my w-way down--"

"I'm real, I can assure you!" The flower has an innocent, almost cartoon-y grin. "M'names Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

"...I r-really hit my head b-bad." Evan decides. Only  _his_ imagination could come up with something as creative as...Flowey the flower. Right?  _Right?_

"I can assure you I'm not a figment of your imagination!" 'Flowey' says. "Don't you know the stories about Mount Ebott?"

"The- The monsters?" Everyone knows that they're just stories, and monsters don't exist, right? 

“They’re just… t-they’re just stories.” He’s numb and out of it at the moment that nothing is really registering.

“They’re not _just_ stories.” Flowey winks. “You’re new to the Underground, aren’t ya?”

“T-The Underground?”

“Yeah!” Flowey says with a grin. He does a little excited dance. “The Underground is where all of us monsters live! It’s a really nice place. How about I teach you how things work down here?”

“S-Sure.” Flowey was a little flower, how could he hurt anyway?

The air around Evan and Flowey suddenly darkens and gets a bit stale to breathe. Evan jumps as a heart is pulled by some sort of force out of his chest. It’s a bit cartoony, and the red heart glows ever so faintly. The glow flickers with the hammering heartbeat in Evan’s ears. Below it is a floating…screen, of sorts, that looks like it popped right out of a video game. 

**EVAN HP 5/5     LV 1**

“See that?” Flowey points at the heart with his leaves. “That’s your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL can get stronger if it gains a lot of LV.”

“LV?”

“LoVe, of course!” Flowey laughs. It’s an innocent, child-like giggle that sends shivers down Evan’s spine. “Down here, LV is shared through little…white… friendliness pellets.”

_That_ set something off in Evan’s brain. “F-Friendliness p-pellets?” He wrapped his arms around himself, wanting to pull his SOUL back in, but any attempt to do so was fruitless. 

“Yeah! I’ve got some with me right now!” As if magically (it probably is, due to some random hallucination Evan was definitely having, but were hallucinations supposed to be so livid?), Flowey makes small little seeds appear in the air around him. There’s five of them, and they seem pretty…harmless. “Do you want some LV?”

Evan shrugs. He’s not sure he should trust this little flower. Flowey shares some with him anyway, sending them out to his SOUL. The pellets begin to hit, one by one. And they each bring pain beyond anything Evan has ever, _ever_ felt before. It’s not a physical pain, the numbness that came when he broke his arm. It’s not an emotional pain he gets whenever he has a panic attack in the bathroom. It’s a deeper pain, that seeps into every corner of his body. He fell to his knees in pain. 

**EVAN HP 4/5     LV 1**

**HP 3/5**

**HP 2/5**

**HP 1/5**

“You _idiot!”_ Flowey holds the final friendliness pellet- fuck it, it’s a bullet, it’s definitely some kind of bullet- in the air. His face has morphed and twisted into some kind of horrifying eldritch creature Evan would see whenever Jared invited him over for game night and it was a horror game. It was a little scary win the game, but this is real life, and it was terrifying, and Evan was going to die.

He did not want to die to a stupid flower.

“In this world, it’s _kill_ or _be killed._ ” Of course it is. “Why would anybody pass up an opportunity like this?!” In a truly theatrical manner, Flowey summons more of the bullets and completely surrounds Evan’s weakly glowing SOUL. Flowey laughs, and the demonic laugh echoes through the cavern in the underground. Before he can finish killing Evan, a flame shoots out from nowhere at Flowey, plunging him into the darkness of the cavern around Evan.

Still shaking from the encounter, Evan looks up. 

There’s another monster. She stands tall and in royal purple robes, with a strange emblem engraved on then. She has long fluffy ears and look… overall, like a goat. Gentle amber eyes look down on Evan as Flowey disappears. “What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth.” She reaches a hand— a paw?— out to Evan. When he hesitates, still shaking and holding his cast to protect his still, very-broken arm, she adds, “Do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. Your SOUL is hurt. May I heal it?”

It would only take one hit to end Evan anyway, and he thinks dying to some weird goat monster- no matter how gentle she looks- would be a better way to go than a flower. He nods. Toriel, the caretaker, summons up flames that gently caress the floating heart. Evan’s back to full HP in no time.

“See, my child? I will cause you no harm.” Toriel says. “I pass through this hall every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the very first human to fall in a long time. Can I know your name?”

She speaks… gently. It’s a nice gentle, not the gentle he gets from his therapist or the gentle he gets from his mom after he’s had some kind of anxiety-induced attack. Nor is it the pity gentle he gets from adults around him who think he’s just a leaf shaking in the autumn wind. It’s a warm gentle.

“E-Evan.” He says, taking her hand.

“Evan! What a wonderful name.” Toriel says. She glances at his cast. It still has **CONNOR** written in all caps, but she pays no heed to it. “Come, my child. I will guide you through these catacombs.” The air becomes less stale and less tense, and the faded colors disappear and become more vibrant. Toriel smiles down at him. She’s at least a head taller than he is, maybe around the height of Connor?

(Evan only notices that because Connor Murphy is one of the tallest people he’s ever met. Even his dad never compared to that. Toriel might be even taller.)

“This way!” She says, and walks through to the other end of the hall. Evan follows closely, not sure of what to make of this goat woman, or the Underground. One thing is for sure, the hand—paw?— paw he shook definitely felt real, and he might be mistaken but you can’t really feel hallucinations, can you?

The next room is brightly lit by torches that don’t seem to have worn out since they were placed. The entirety of the room is composed of some sort of purple brick, that reminds Evan of his mom’s favorite color. Purple. There are stairs and a small balcony that lead to another doorway to what Evan assumes is another room. Dead leaves pile up in the corner of the room and vines grow across the walls. 

Toriel doesn’t say anything, but keeps an eye on Evan as she moves her way up the stairs and waits for him at the door. He’s about to follow when he sees a small, glowing orb floating at the bottom of the stairs. Knowing full well anything in this new world would be able to kill him, but knowing Toriel was up there anyway, he stepped close to it.

When his hand rested into it, a strange new screen came up.

**SAVE?**

**YESNO**

He pressed _YES._ A click was heard.

**GAME SAVED.**

This was definitely just like a video game.

 


	2. Waving Through A Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan makes it through the Ruins, with and without Toriel.
> 
> (And Connor Murphy learns.)

“The ruins are ancient hallways full of puzzles and contraptions!” Toriel explains happily as they move to the next room. “They are diversions and doors, for we feared that the humans who had trapped us in the Underground would one day return. Nowadays, puzzles are how many monsters entertain themself and keep themselves busy.”

She should’ve been a teacher, Evan comments. He glances at the room they’ve entered. There’s a shut door on one end, a lever, and buttons on the ground. They’re arranged in a strange pattern.

“Hmm… may you want to try and solve this puzzle, Evan?” Toriel suggests. “I’m an old lady who has spent much of her life around these puzzles. If you need any assistance, you may ask.”

“I-I t-think…” Maybe he should try? It looked harmless. Even though they were meant to stop humans from coming for the monsters again (were humans really that bad?), he could probably solve them. If he failed he’d look stupid and he failed a lot so he looked stupid a lot, but there was no harm in trying, right?

Evan walks up to the buttons. There’s an inscription on the wall. 

**ONLY THE FEARLESS MAY PROCEED. BRAVE ONES, FOOLISH ONES. BOTH WALK NOT THE MIDDLE ROAD.**

He glances at the buttons. They’re arranged in three rows of three. There’s a discoloration in the purple brick under the middle three buttons. Was that the middle road? He steps on the buttons not on the discolored path, and goes and pulls the lever. It’s a bit tricky with his clunky cast, but he managed to do it.

Silence. He messed up, he made a fool of himself. Toriel won’t want to help him anymore—

_CLICK!_

_“_ Splendid, Evan!” Toriel applauds him. “I will admit, I must get some oil on this old door. It used to be much faster when it opened.”She chuckles, and moves onto the next room. 

Hey, he tried something new for once, and he didn’t mess up. He didn’t freak out. This was… this was okay, so far? The next room, however, is a long corridor. It has multiple switches and signs on the wall. Some of the switches have yellow writing next to them, in paint. “I wonder if you can do this puzzle as well, Evan. I have labeled the ones you need to pull.” Toriel says, giving him a gentle smile. Gentle encouragement.

Evan nods. He got the last one, right? This one shouldn’t be too hard. Plus, they were labeled. How could he possibly mess this one up, right? Unless he accidentally pulled the wrong one, and something bad happened. Would it kill him? If nothing happened, at the same time, Toriel would probably be upset and mad at him. They’re labeled, he shouldn’t be having a problem with this—

“Evan, my child, are you okay?”

“Huh?” He’s still standing still. Pulling at the loose fibers of his cast, of his shirt. Maybe twitching a bit. Not the best example to be setting for her. “I-I’m f-fine!”

“Are you sure?”

He nods, maybe a bit too vigorously. “Y-yeah! S-Sorry.”

“It is fine, my child.” Toriel watches as Evan goes to the two labeled switches— they’re both the right ones, and they both flick the switch. The barrier blocking the next room, spikes, were lowered once Evan got the second one to click. “Onward we go, Evan!”

Evan watches her walk away. He glances at the third switch for a moment. He hesitates, then decides he doesn’t want to mess it up, so he leaves it be and moves onto the next room. It’s empty, Evan decides at first, but then he sees a poorly-sewn together dummy in the room. There’s an array of toy swords, wooden weapons, and sticks in the corner of the room.

“As a human in the Underground…Monsters may attack you.” 

“A-Attack?” It sends a cold shiver through Evan. 

“Unfortunately. However! Do not be afraid! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. All you need to do is strike up a friendly conversation! I will arrive swiftly to resolve the conflict.” She motions to the dummy. “Practice on the dummy.” 

Practice _talking_ to the dummy? Evan could barely hold a conversation with Jared, and he was… Well, probably only a bit smarter than a dummy. But still. He couldn’t even ask people to sign his cast! He suddenly felt the same chill, and watched as his SOUL came out again and the FIGHT began.

A new screen came up with this FIGHT. There were four buttons below a larger screen. 

**FIGHT ACT ITEM MERCY**

Evan knows he’s definitely not going to fight the dummy. He hits **ACT** instead. It brings up another menu. 

  * ******CHECK**
  * ******TALK**



He hits CHECK. A wall of text pops up in the larger dialogue box. He didn’t know when his life suddenly became a video game, but here he was. 

**DUMMY- ATK 0 DEF 0**

  * ******A cotton heart and a button eye**
  * ******You are the apple of my eye**



Evan watches the dummy stand around mindlessly. He goes back to the main screen and looks in ITEM. All he has is a Sharpie from is pocket, which does absolutely nothing in this situation. He returns to the main screen.

**MERCY**

  * ******SPARE**



Nothing happens. He hits it again. Nothing happens. After the third time of hitting it, trying to avoid social interaction at all costs, the dummy tires of his actions, it floats up to the ceiling and lands on a ledge close to it.

**YOU WON! YOU GOT 0 EXP AND 0 GOLD.**

Toriel was watching the whole time. Her entire expression is…hard to read. She looks confused, proud, bewildered and worried, all at the same time. She clears her throat, shakes her head, ruffling her ears. “Let us move on!”

* * *

Evan follows close to Toriel in the ruins. She helps him to do a few more puzzles- especially one that involved falling through a hole on the ground to another level, falling made him uneasy but she assured him that the leaves underneath would catch him and that he would not be hurt. Indeed, he managed to escape unscathed from those puzzles and trick doors.

“Evan, my child.” She stops in an empty corridor, with pillars on each side. “May I ask a favor of you?”

“S-Sure, Ms. T-Toriel?”

“I was not expecting company today, and I am afraid my house is a bit of a mess!” Her gentle laugh returns for a few beats. “It’s a bit embarrassing. Do you mind if I ask you to stay here for a bit so that I may clean up? I will come and get you soon, I promise you.”

Alone? In the Ruins? Full of monsters? Without any protection? He didn’t mind if the house was a mess, but it seemed pretty important to Toriel. And he didn’t want to be selfish. He wasn’t okay with it, but… “T-That’s fine, Ms. T-Toriel.”

“Splendid!” She says. “Oh, how about I give you my phone number so that I can check in on you?” Evan pulls out his old smartphone and hands it to her. She takes it, and it’s tiny in her large paws, but somehow she gets her number in his phone and hands it back to him as well. “You’re also connected to the Underground’s telephone service now, I believe. Some of the monsters have service down here, so hopefully you will as well.”

He nods, glancing down at his phone. He looks at Toriel’s contact number, and it’s a weird arrangement of numbers and an asterisk and an ampersand? Monsters have weird telephone numbers, Evan decides. 

“I shall be no more than an hour, an hour and a half. I promise you I will come and get you. Sit tight until then?”

“O-of course, M-Ms. Toriel.” He watches as she disappears into the next room and onward, leaving Evan alone in the long, pillar room, by himself, with nothing to protect himself.

Bored, he pulls out his phone. None of his apps work in the Underground. He supposed that was because of a difference between the monster’s service and the human’s cell phone service up above? He glances through his phone and notices he has a few unread message.

So he can _receive_ texts. Weird.

 

> **MOM:** Hey Evan, working late tonight. Left some money on the table for pizza. Please don’t forget to eat tonight! <3 :)
> 
> **MOM:** Evan, you should be out of school now. Are you okay?
> 
> **MOM** : Your phone probably died again. Remember to charge it!
> 
> **JARED** : dude wtf where'd you go after lunch
> 
> **JARED** : i know u never forget to charge ur phone why aren’t you responding
> 
> **JARED** : if its bc of the thing with connor i understand dude hes a fcking psychopath
> 
> **JARED** : you’re still not responding? don’t make me call your mom
> 
> **MOM** : Jared says you’re not responding to your texts. Is everything okay, Evan?
> 
> **MOM** : Evan?
> 
> **MOM** : Evan, please, this is not funny.
> 
>  

Evan pockets his phone. There’s another one from his mom he can’t read, and he’s starting to shake again. He’s worried all of them because he can’t respond to their texts now. They’ve started to notice he’d disappeared. They should be glad, right? He was just a liability, just a setback for his mom—

Evan holds in a sob. It’s a painful reminder he’s still here, still living, waving through a window that no one else can see through, but he can see them, and he can see that he’s made them worried, and why couldn’t he have just died properly at the end of July like he’d planned from the tree?

His phone ringing jolts him out of it. He picks it up, half expecting it to be the angry voice of his mom or of Jared. Instead, it is Toriel.

_“My child! I am afraid to say that this may take a little longer than expected. I am sorry, Evan. I wish I had a book to have given you while you are waiting. Sit still, and maybe I will be wrong about it taking longer! I will get you when I am done!”_ She doesn’t wait for Evan to respond, which is good, because if he did, he’d probably start crying again.

No, wait, he’s already crying.

Oh well.

He stops when he sees a monster peek its head into the room where he’s curled up in a ball, against a pillar, hiding. It’s one of the ones he’d encountered before, with Toriel, a Froggit, a frog-like monster.

“Ribbit?” The monster says, cocking its head to the side out of curiosity. “Ribbit, ribbit.”

He doesn’t understand what the frog says. The Froggit seems to realize this but it doesn’t faze it, and it leaps a little closer to Evan, to where it can grab onto his sleeve and pull. “Ribbit.”

“W-W-What?”

“Ribbit, ribbit.”

“I-I don’t understand you. I’m sorry.”

“Ribbit ribbit. Ribbit meow ribbit.” It points its head towards the other room. 

“Do- Do you want me t-to follow you?” Evan pauses. “W-Wait, did y-you just meow?”

* * *

(He didn't know why he wasn't high when he got home. Connor Murphy just decided against it, for some odd reason. Maybe it would be tolerable at home.

But it was not. Larry was yelling about something, as usual and Zoe wouldn't come out of her room, even for dinner. Connor didn't even want to eat-- he wasn't hungry, if he eats one more vegan lasagna his mom makes he is literally going to kill himself.

The news is on. Nightly, local news, none of the political stuff his father watches. The news is on, and a report is shown. An amber alert. A kid-- who looks much older, and is definitely a teen, and it's a weird yearbook photo and the kid looks like he's going to have a mental breakdown-- flashes on screen.

Connor feels his heart fall in his chest. 

Evan Hansen is missing.)

* * *

Following the Froggit is definitely a wild ride. The monster doesn't seem to be in the mood to fight him. Maybe only certain monsters will attack Evan? He certainly hoped so. 

The Froggit stopped inside a small room in the ruins. The room is nicely decorated-- or it might from be old age, Evan can never tell if people purposely use vines as decorations or not. There's a single pillar in the room, and on top of the pillar is a bowl. With candy in it.

He walks up to the bowl.

**It's Monster Candy. Take a piece?**

**YES     NO**

It's not his candy, but the way the Froggit is looking at him, it looks like Evan can take a piece of the candy. 

❤  **YES**

One piece of monster candy was taken, and Evan, without anywhere else to keep it, put it in his pocket. The candy looked like saltwater taffy, something Evan hadn't had in a long time. Maybe it would be good, but seeing how it was labeled as "monster candy", he decided against it.

The Froggit then led him out of the room, before stopping by a pile of leaves. It seems content there.

"D-Did you just w-want to show me the...candy?"

The Froggit nods.

"Oh. O-okay then." He paused. "Oh, and t-thank you. Thank you, I mean."

"Ribbit ribbit. Ribbit ribbit. Ribbit."

He doesn't know what the Froggit said, but he took it as a "you're welcome", and it left Evan on his merry way.

To... where? He pondered. He should stay in the room Toriel had left him in, and wait for her to return. But he'd gotten out this far. Maybe it would be okay to just sit here and wait in  _this_ room? He supposed so... He hoped so. As he glanced around the room, he noticed piles of leaves, which was odd, because of the lack of trees. And that it wasn't fall yet, up on the surface...

 _The surface..._ no, he couldn't think of that right now. Evan didn't want to think of it right now, as selfish as it was. He didn't want to think about it, because if he did, he'd start crying and panicking, and he wouldn't be able to stop. He pushed these thoughts away when, again, he found one of the glowing orbs. The... the save things. That's what it asked him to do last time, right? The Froggit was oblivious to it, so maybe he was just seeing things, but he still walked up to it, and let his hand fall into the glowing light. He wasn't able to appreciate it beforehand, but it was... warm. And welcoming. And safe, and friendly and nice and Evan never felt like it before.

_**Crinkling in the leaves fills you with determination.** _

**SAVE?**

**YES          NO**

Evan rested his hand over the YES again.

_**GAME SAVED.** _

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should've been working on my dadaism report for art. but here i am like 7 months later.


End file.
